Grey’s Anatomy star Steven W Bailey shares rare health diagnosis: ‘Same guy. Now with wheels’

‘Professionally, this is changing me as an actor,’ wrote Bailey

Bailey is best known for playing Joe the bartender across several seasons of the hit medical drama ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ (@stevenwbailey/Instagram)

Grey’s Anatomy star Steven W Bailey has opened up about his rare neuromuscular disorder.

The actor is best known for playing bartender Joe on the long-running medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. He also starred in other hit shows including Netflix’s You, Modern Family, Scandal, Community, NCIS, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer,

In an “open letter” shared to X, the 54-year-old told fans that he had been diagnosed with a rare neuromuscular disorder known as congenital myasthenia syndrome (CMS).

Bailey said he had “spent years being cautious, private and quiet” about the health condition that has been “shaping [his] life and work”.

“The darndest thing, but it turns out I have a rather rare genetic neuromuscular disorder. Weird, right? It’s called Congenital Myasthenia Syndrome,” Bailey said.

CMS is a group of rare hereditary conditions caused by a gene change that results in muscle weakness, which worsens with physical activity, according to the Mayo clinic.

The syndromes can affect muscles used for movement, speaking, shewing, swallowing, seeing and blinking, breathing, and walking.

Bailey did not specify exactly when he was diagnosed, but explained that he had not announced his diagnosis “out of career caution, diagnostic uncertainty, and being private about such things”.

Speaking about his own symptoms, the actor said: “The result being that my hands, arms and legs tire quicker than they should, which makes them weaker than, well... anticipated.

“Sustained repetitive movements are particularly difficult and can cause my muscles to temporarily tighten and shut down.”

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Bailey joked that the syndrome has helped get him out of doing “dishes and folding laundry”, adding that it has made walking increasingly more difficult.

Steven W Bailey in ‘You’ (Netflix)

“The truth is, as my disease progresses, I have been using a powered wheelchair more and more to get around,” he said. “Professionally, this is changing me as an actor.”

Speaking about his work, Bailey noted: “I can ambulate my way through simple ‘walks and talk’ with no problem. I can still rise to my feet to object to the judge, derail a town meeting, or yell at a cop for being a loose cannon.”

(ABC)

Bailey went on to say that moving forward, his work, like his life, will “start skewing more wheelchair, if you will”.

“But now I am here – done hiding – with a clear understanding of my disease, wheels firmly beneath me, ready for the next chapter in my life and career,” he said.

“I look forward to performing as characters who live their lives with a chair, creating a more representative world in film and television,” he wrote.

Concluding the post, Bailey signed off: “Same guy. Same actor. Same artist. Now with wheels.”